The concept of printing various cloths with dyes to form patterns is well known. In some instances, the printed cloth may not accept the ink optimally which could result in poor resolution and the immediate or subsequent fading of the pattern on the cloth. This is particularly true when it comes to printing designs or patterns on a cloth directly from a printer.
Problems may arise in cloth treatment when a design, prepared for example on a computer using CAD software, is desired to be directly printed from the screen to the fabric. Usually, it has been necessary to use intermediate devices, such as screens or heat transfer sheets, in order to ensure that brilliance of the pattern on the cloth is achieved and retained. Otherwise, design fading and a washed out appearance is likely to occur.
There are number of patents which describe types of ink and coating compositions which are intended to improve the sharpness and durability of inks printed onto different types of fabrics using printers. Some of these are briefly discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,485 (Koike) discloses an ink-jet textile printing method. In this patent, the cloth or fabric may contain a certain proportion of water soluble high molecular weight polymers as well as synthetic high polymers. These may include various celluloses, polysacharrides and protein substances.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,742 (Iwata) describes aqueous jet-ink printing on textile fabric pre-treated with a polymeric acceptor. An acceptor for the ink is deposited on the surface of the cloth to facilitate easy and rapid absorbing and accepting of the ink. Various acceptor materials are provided, and these may include water soluble or hydrophilic natural or synthetic polymers. When ink is applied, it is absorbed and accepted by the ink acceptor. The ink composition itself may contain various dispersants, surfactants and viscosity controlling agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,398 (Purser) also describes a composition for pre-treating fabric for use in transfer printing and transfer printing processes. This patent does not address the issue of enhanced printing from ink-jet printers, which requires specialized processes. The invention is mainly directed towards improvement of fabric coatings which do not readily retain dyes by transfer printing, and the composition comprises a self-curing acrylic resin and one of a softening agent or self-curing elastomeric polysiloxane composition. Various other components, such as wetting agents, humectants, and the like may also be added.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,542 (Cox) describes a method of incorporating a stable resin binder composition into print bonding. A very large variety of synthetic resins may be used, and the patent also sets forth self-thickening resins which may be used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,391 (Shorin) describes a silicone-based hydrophobic coating composition which can be made into printable coatings. These silicone-based solventless hydrophobic compositions are based on vinyl or hydroxyl chainstopped polysiloxanes having viscosities within specified limits. Various polysiloxanes are used in the composition for printing inks and varnishes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,503 (Drake) describes a paper comprised of a substrate and a coating. The coating includes a pigment and a binder. The binder may include polyethylene glycol. One of the significant objects of the invention is to avoid the problem of curl, particularly upon a change of relative humidity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,902 (Kronzer) is for a printable material including first and second layers. The first layer is typically a sheet material, such as film, paper, non-woven and woven wefts, while the second layer consists of a number of components including humectants such as polyethylene glycol, viscosity modifiers, and particles of a thermoplastic polymer. It is to be noted that the second layer is applied typically to the side of the paper not having the print coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,275 (Koike) addresses problems in printing on cloth by an ink-jet printer, some of the problems relating to sharpness, high density and high brightness. This patent addresses the problem by adjusting the moisture content of the cloth, applying ink to this adjusted cloth of predetermined density, dying the cloth including the use of heat treatment, and washing out the remaining dye. The printing ink itself may include an organic solvent, a large number of examples of which are provided, and which include various glycols.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,093 (Haruta) describes the use of cationic substances, contained in a cloth so that printing can be conducted on the variety of types of cloth with an ink which is ordinarily used in commercially available ink-jet printers. The cationic substance may be comprised of an amine, the use of a cationic inorganic particle with a binder, and the application of an anionic dyable polymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,951 (Koike) describes a liquid composition for ink-jet printing. This ink-jet liquid includes a disperser dye in an aqueous liquid medium. The patent also covers imparting a liquid composition onto a cloth and then subjecting the cloth to dye-fixing treatment. The composition contains a number of different agents including organic solvents, dispersing agents, viscosity controlling agents and defoaming agents. The organic solvent includes various glycols; the dispersing agents or surfactants include fatty acid salts, condensates, ethers and esters; and viscosity controlling agents include sodium polyacrylate and other natural or synthetic polymers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,684 (Takaide) describes an ink-jet textile printing system including the use of disperse dyes. The invention uses at least two types of ink on a cloth, these two types of ink overlapping, being heat-treated and thereafter washed. The inks contain dyes and a compound for dispersing the dyes.